NOT THE SAME OLD THING: St. Patrick’s Day, take two

Wednesday

Jul 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 3, 2013 at 3:09 AM

Hosting a party with as many people as I wanted to have was a daunting task. My house is not really big enough to do more than a small gathering of people who know me well enough to understand that my chairs don’t match, there isn’t much on the walls except for a little macaroni and cheese now and then, and my culinary skills don’t go very far beyond heating things up and tossing in a batch of boxed-mix cupcakes.

Brenda Kelley Kim / Columnist

“I am thankful for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.” ~Nancie J. Carmody

Hosting parties has never been something I excel at. There have been cookouts at my house, small groups of friends have shown up spontaneously for pizza or wine, and that is always fun. Planning an actual party, though, isn’t. It just seems to be a production, with a checklist of what food to serve, who to invite and whether or not you need to have entertainment or some other form of “organized fun.”

Recently, though, our family had good reason to celebrate. Earlier in the year, I missed observing what has come to be my holiest of days, St. Patrick’s Day. I was a little busy, kicking cancer’s arse. A worthy pursuit, but now that it had been put down, it was time to honor my heritage. And my friends and family. They were the ones who got me through the worst of it.

Hosting a party with as many people as I wanted to have was a daunting task. My house is not really big enough to do more than a small gathering of people who know me well enough to understand that my chairs don’t match, there isn’t much on the walls except for a little macaroni and cheese now and then, and my culinary skills don’t go very far beyond heating things up and tossing in a batch of boxed-mix cupcakes.

When the going gets tough, however, the tough make lists. There is a notebook that has been my one-stop place for phone numbers, appointment cards and test results, so it seemed like a good idea to use that now for catering menus and shopping lists. The first question was when and where. It’s a busy time of year. Graduations, weddings, birthdays and end-of-school celebrations have people running in 10 different directions. It was an easy decision though, since the hall I wanted to rent was only available one day in the next three months. Done. On to the next.

Who’s coming? Well, everyone. I wanted everyone I’ve ever met to be there. Clearly that couldn’t happen. Believe it or not, there are some people who’ve met me that don’t really want to spend any more time with me. It’s usually mutual, so no worries on that score. There were a lot friends and family that I wanted to thank, though. So many people had been there through all of this, and it was important to me to honor that.

Being the huge fan of technology that I am, I fired up the computer and cranked out an E-vite. E-vite is awesome. It’s click, click, done. Copy and paste it to Facebook and what would have been hours of stamps and envelopes was a few minutes. Almost immediately, responses started to come in, and everytime my phone pinged with another email, the party grew. Not everyone could come, but lots of people said they would. The fear that we all have when throwing a party of “what if no one shows up?” was starting to fade. It was replaced with the fear of “oh my god, how many people are coming?”

Food was next up on the checklist. Feeding my family is easy enough. The basics come out of my kitchen, and there is a fair amount of takeout, and at least once a week dinner consists of pancakes and bacon, sandwiches or the dreaded bowl of cereal. The whole happy mom in the kitchen, whipping up balanced and delicious meals is not how things work at our house. Shocking, but true.

Fortunately, they have people for this. They call them caterers. You choose a few things off a menu, pick it up the day of the party, and while it might cost a little more than doing it yourself, in my case it was worth it. I wanted to thank people, not poison them. So many of the guests asked what they could bring, which was very kind, but not necessary. This party was a “do-over.” I couldn’t kick up my heels for St. Patrick’s Day, but the silver lining was that I got to celebrate something much better than just being Irish. That’s normally reason enough to crank up the Clancy Brothers and hoist a few pints, but being upright and healthy enough to host dozens of friends and family members is a huge win.

The day of the party was a frenzy of getting ready, buying last-minute supplies and going back over the lists of errands and tasks. Once the music started, though, and people arrived? Game on. I have this pair of heels that I found over 25 years ago at a warehouse surplus store. They are Kelly green (of course) with sequins. Not exactly a fashion-forward look. They cost $3.99, though, so clearly they are high-end designer footwear. Shoes are my thing; it’s possible there’s an addiction issue, but I’m OK with that. Every St. Patrick’s Day since I found these pumps, I have worn them. They have stumbled through pubs in Boston and New York, and I even wore them to a room party at my son’s school. You can imagine how thrilled he was. This year was the first in a long time that I did not get to wear them.

As my Irish friend Trish said as she left, “The craic, it was mighty.” That sums it up pretty well. There was music and food and friends. St. Patrick was in the house, for sure. I got my do-over in so many ways. While I was pretty stressed out leading up to the party, worrying if there would be enough food and whether my guests would have a good time, when the day came, none of that mattered. It all just worked. It will continue to work too, without a doubt. The green shoes are stored away for now, but they will be back on my feet March 17, 2014. I can’t wait. Slainte!